Hiroshi, a disaffected teenage boy, is struggling at school and one day shuts himself away in his bedroom. For the next two years he refuses to come out or let anyone else in. Hiroshi's parents are so ashamed by what has happened that they attempt to conceal his condition from friends and family. Inevitably, the household disintegrates. The story is based on the uniquely Japanese condition of Hikikomori, which is estimated to affect 1 million young Japanese... Hikikomori, loosely translated as "social withdrawal", is a cultural phenomenon in Japan. Adolescents who are bullied at school or feel outcast from society shut themselves away in their bedroom and simply refuse to have any contact with the outside world. This self-imprisonment can last for months and even years in extreme cases (see HIKIKOMORI for more information). Hikikomori children typically sleep all day and stay up all night, don't take baths or cut their hair, which all ties in with the sense of being dead, unworthy and..
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